Punk Rock Cabaret Performer Billy Hough to Star in AMADEUS at Provincetown Theater

By: May. 08, 2017
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Notorious punk rock/cabaret performer Billy Hough will now get back to exercising his thespian talents when he performs the lead role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Provincetown Theater's new production of "Amadeus" in Provincetown, MA, running May 24th through June 11th.

This Tony Award-winning play, written by Peter Shaffer in 1979, tells the highly fictionalized story of the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rival composer Antonio Salieri.

Billy Hough, who continues his highly popular "Scream Along With Billy" rock/cabaret performances during the annual summer residency at the Grotta Bar in Provincetown, actually has an impressive theatrical stage background making him no stranger to theater goers in the Cape Cod/Provincetown area. Since the late 1990's, when he co-founded the Gold Dust Orphans theatrical troupe with lyricist and playwright Ryan Landry, he has acted in nearly 20 plays in Boston and Provincetown. He also wrote full original scores to eight musical productions while with the company, including "Joan of Arkansas" (2000) and "CinderElla Rocks" (2005).

The very charismatic Hough, who earned his degree in theater in 1992 from the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Victoria in British Columbia, also played the lead in "Hamlet" for three summers in Cape Cod and Provincetown Town. He also performed in "Krapp's Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett on the Provincetown stage and wrote the Lea DeLaria musical "Insatiable Hunger" which she starred in it at the Provincetown Town Theater.

His theatrical experience later took a turn towards film when he was first discovered by writer/director Stephen Winter (IV) who cast Billy as 'Tony' in the 2011 short film "Death is Lame" and when he caught the attention of acclaimed director Oren Moverman, who cast Billy as himself in the 2012 independent feature "Rampart". Three of Hough's musical performances were used in the film and appear on the film's soundtrack (Lakeshore Records, 2012), including one of his original songs, "Venice," while he also contributed an original song, "If I Loved You More" to the "Death is Lame" soundtrack. His single "Radical Days" was also performed by Hough in the 2014 feature film "Time Out Of Mind", written and directed by Oren Moverman and starring Richard Gere, who got his start at The Provincetown Theater.

Most recently, he wrote and performed the song "Rocket Science" for Oren Moverman's just released feature film "The Dinner" starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan and Chloë Sevigny, and debuted his new show, "Scream Along With Billy: Radical Days" at Joe's Pub in New York City in April, which was filmed by Moverman and recorded for a future album release.

"Scream Along With Billy" has developed into a cult sensation cabaret over the last ten years, with live shows in New York City and Provincetown, MA, building up a fiercely devoted fan base and following. Filmmaker John Waters called it "The bravest thing I've seen in 20 years." While acclaimed write Hilton Als at The New Yorker proclaimed...."Keeps the audience mesmerized. Absurdist theatre can happen anywhere, especially if it's kept alive by artists like Hough" and Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham raved that "Billy Hough is touched by genius, a word I don't use often or lightly."

The worlds of acting and music always seemed to collide creatively for the multi-talented Billy Hough, who now sees the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a very natural progression in his career. He explains..."As an actor, there are only a couple of roles you feel like you were "born to play" and for me, Wolfgang Mozart in Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" is one of them. It will also be my first project directly at the Provincetown Theater, which puts me on a short list with Eugene O'Neill and Richard Gere (which I would never be on any other way)."

He also welcomes the opportunity to work with the folks at the Provincetown Theater, one of the most highly regarded regional theaters in the Northeast. The Provincetown Theater is a year-round community-driven center for the performing arts. Throughout 2017, the Provincetown Theater will present several new "shoulder season" events, designed to continue developing community relationships and to partner with core cultural and civic institutions.

Don't miss Billy Hough's performance in "Amadeus" at the Provincetown Theater at 238 Bradford Street in Provincetown, MA from May 24th through June 11th, 2017. For tickets visit provincetowntheater.org/schedule or call (508) 487-7487. For more about Billy, goo to billyhough.com.



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